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| Ratchadapisek Land Case Ruling Scheduled for Sept 17 |
| UPDATE : 22 August 2008 |
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The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders continued the trial into the Ratchadapisek land purchase case today, in which former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife are key defendants.
Today is the last day of the hearing for the Ratchadapisek land purcahse case as the last defense witness testified.
Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was accused of abusing his authority as prime minister, to aid Pojamarn's purchase of 33 rai of prime land in the Ratchadapisek area from the Financial Institutions Development Fund with a bid of 772 million baht, which is far lower than the market price of about two billion baht.
However, the pair skipped bail and flew from Beijing to London, instead of returning to Bangkok as required by their bail conditions.
In today's hearing, the judges summoned Thaksin's former lawyer, Pichit Chuenban as the defense witness in the case. However, Pichit did not appear in court, claiming that his previous written testimony should be sufficient and he has no other information to share. The court agreed with his plea of absence.
Meanwhile, the court has removed Thaksin and Pojaman from the witness list and suggested that the defense lawyer prepare a closing argument on September 10th.
The court is scheduled to rule on this case on September 17th.
Thaksin's lawyer, Anek Khamchum, said he has done his best to represent his clients and declined to speculate on the court's ruling.
Director of the Special Litigation Department of the Office of the Auditor-General, Seksan Bangsomboon said he would call for a meeting with his team members on August 26th to draft the closing argument.
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